Revelation by C. J. Sansom Read Free Book Online

to Lincoln's Inn the previous afternoon, and read what I could find about the Bedlam in the library. It had been a monastic foundation, but had survived the Dissolution since some of its patients came from families of means and it was therefore a potential source of profit. The King appointed the warden, currently a courtier named Metwys, who in turn appointed a full-time keeper. The man, his parents believed, who hoped that Adam Kite would die.
    Near Bishopsgate I was held up. A rich man's funeral train was passing, black horses, black carriages and poor men dressed in black following behi nd, singing psalms. A dignified- looking old man walked at the head of the procession carrying a white stick — the steward of the dead man's household carrying the symbolic staff of office he would break and cast into the grave. From its great size I guessed this must be the funeral of Lord Latimer, whose wife the King apparently coveted. I took off my cap. A large carriage passed; the shutters were open. A woman looked out, her face framed by a jet-black hood. She was about thirty; a receding chin and small mouth made a face that otherwise would have been pretty, merely striking. She stared at the crowd with wide, unseeing eyes as she was borne along. It seemed to me that there was fear in them.
    The carriage rumbled past, and the Lady Catherine Parr disap peared from view.
    At Bishopsgate I passed under London Wall. A little beyond I came to a pair of large wooden gates in a high wall. They were open, and riding through I found myself in a wide, earthen courtyard, stippled with snow, a chapel at its centre. The backs of houses formed three sides of the yard; a long, two-storied building of grey stone, which looked very old, made up the fourth. Some of the unpainted wooden shutters on the windows were open. People were passing to and fro across the yard, and I saw a couple of narrow lanes running between the houses. The Bedlam was not, then, a closed prison. And I heard no shrieks or rattling of chains.
    I rode to a large door at one end. My knock was answered by a thickset man with a hard, sardonic face, who wore a dirty grey smock. A big key-ring dangled from his greasy leather belt.
    'I am Master Shardlake,' I said. 'I have an appointment to see Adam Kite.'
    The man studied my robe. 'Lawyer, sir?'
    'Yes. Are you Keeper Shawms?'
    'No, sir. He's out, though he's due back soon. I'm another of the keepers, Hob Gebons.'
    'Are young Kite's parents here?' 'No.'
    'I will wait.'
    He stood aside to let me enter. 'Welcome to the chamber of the mad,' he said as he closed the door. 'You think you can get Adam Kite released?'
    'I hope so.'
    'We'd be glad to see him go, he makes the other lunatics nervous. We keep him shut away. Some think him possessed,' he added in a low voice.
    'What do you think, Gebons?'
    He shrugged. 'Not for me to think.' The man leaned close. 'If you've a bit of time, sir, I could show you some of our prize specimens. King Commode and the Chained Scholar. For a shilling.'
    I hesitated, then handed over the coin. The more I knew about what went on here, the better.
    Gebons led me along a whitewashed corridor running the length of the building, windows on one side and a row of green - painted wooden doors on the other. It was cold and there was a faint smell of ordure.
    'How many patients do you have?' 'Thirty, sir. They're a mixed lot.'
    I saw that viewing- hatches had been cut in the green doors, at eye height. Another grey - smocked attendant stood in an open doorway, looking in.
    'Is that my washing water, Stephen:' I heard a woman's voice call. 'Ay, Alice. Shall I take your pisspot:'
    The scene appeared civilized enough, almost domestic. Gebons smiled at me. 'Alice is sane enough most of the time. But she has the falling sickness bad, she can be on the floor foaming and spitting in the wink of an eye.'
    I looked at Gebons, thinking of Roger.
    'She's allowed to come and go. Unlike this fellow.' The warder had stopped at a